Many Delhi buses, autos registered under fake addresses: Panel

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Last Updated: Sun, Jan 20, 2013 20:57 hrs

New Delhi: A parliamentary panel, probing road safety issues in the aftermath of the Delhi gangrape case, has expressed serious concern over cases of a large number of buses and autorickshaws in Delhi being registered under fake addresses.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, headed by CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, felt that criminals got away easily taking advantage of the duality and multiplicity of the policing and security system in the national capital.

It is understood that Yechury has suggested the creation of an autonomous authority, comprising officials of the state transport departments, traffic police, road maintenance organisations and others concerned in every state, to ensure greater degree of coordination among these agencies.

The committee, which recently summoned top officials like Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar, Delhi Transport Commissioner and the Road Transport and Highways Ministry Secretary, is set to submit its recommendations to Parliament next month.

"This particular bus (used in the gangrape) was caught six times and let off every time it was challaned. After this gruesome incident, it was found that the address given was wrong. That is why we asked the National Informatics Centre that it should maintain a data base to make it easy to track any such vehicle," a source in the panel said, adding that "unfortunately, no such system exists now."

There were also reports that "over 100 autorickshaws have been found to be registered in the name of an old widow at an obscure address. How can this happen?", sources pointed.

At a recent meeting, the panel found that representatives of traffic police, which implements the law, and Delhi administration were found passing the buck on each other on this issue, they said.

While the traffic police's argument was that absence of proper laws in Delhi led the courts to let off the bus, the Delhi administration officials blamed it on the "inefficient handling of the charge sheet" by the police.

"On the one hand, issuing of licence is the responsibility of Delhi government, and monitoring, on the other, is the responsibility of the police which is under the Centre. It is a totally chaotic system in bus licensing department where the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. It is a jungle raj," an MP reportedly said in that meeting.

The sources said the committee was examining the licensing and registration system of vehicles and how to plug such glaring loopholes.